Somewhere along the way, Darcy became friends with the Hulk.

Basically it all came about that the Hulk seemed to have made it his personal mission to rescue Darcy whenever there was trouble underway. Darcy didn't mind so much because it meant she didn't die.

Really, it was just a small sacrifice of her dignity to not put up a fight when the big green guy swished her up into the air. It was what ensured that she got to go to bed every night relatively unscathed and for that she wouldn't complain.

For awhile Bruce wasn't aware of his counterpart's seeming obsession with Darcy, and Darcy thought it best to keep the matter to herself. She really preferred not having constant bruises all over her body and horrendous scabs from the unavoidable injuries that used to befall her whenever a bad guy was in town.

So Darcy didn't say a word, partly for her own selfish reasons, and partly to protect Bruce, who tried his best to never talk about his other self and seemed so uncomfortable with the topic that whenever it was brought up in conversation he looked on the verge of a heart attack. She had developed a soft spot in her heart for the quirky scientist who always gave her a polite smile when he passed her in the halls, and the last thing she wanted to do was cause him to worry about another thing.

It all came to a head one day though when Bruce freaked out at Tony.

Darcy knew from experience that Tony Stark couldn't leave well enough alone as he was always pushing her buttons with sarcastic comments and self-righteous declarations, but he usually knew when to back off.

It was about a quarter after one when Darcy heard the noise.

She had just gotten back from picking up lunch for her and Jane, and was heading down to the lab when a large crash echoed down the hall.

Being SHIELD headquarters, Darcy was used to hearing loud noises more frequently than in her past jobs. Something about this one sounded different though. Much less mechanical or chemical in nature and decidedly more human.

Or human-ish if Darcy wanted to get all technical about it.

She picked up her pace slightly when she heard the sound, and made a right instead of the usual left that would take her to Jane. When there was another loud boom, this time causing a slight tremor to the floor, Darcy dropped her things and took off running.

The fact that she was wearing high heels was of no great concern. She'd run in higher and run farther in the past when being chased by an out-of-control robot. Usually she tried to forget that traumatic experience.

The noises stopped momentarily just as Darcy reached the source. She didn't even pause outside of Tony Stark's lab, just entered the access code that she had swiped from Jarvis and dashed in.

She was familiar enough with the workings of the scientists in the building to head straight for the back. Really, she was prepared for anything after being employed at SHIELD for the past 10 months.

The sight when she got there though made her suck in a breath.

On the floor beside her was a pile of tattered clothes, and a few feet away in place of the quirky doctor with the nice smile and cute glasses was the green guy.

For the first time in her acquaintance with Tony Stark, she saw real fear in the man's eyes as he dove behind lab tables and dodged the chairs and lab equipment that the Hulk was hurling at him. Just after a tray of glass beakers narrowly missed Tony's head, Darcy decided it would be in everyone's best interest if she intervened.

"Hey!"

It was by no means the most elegant greeting, but it served its purpose well enough because a pair of large, bright green eyes were soon locked onto hers.

After that it was just a matter of coaxing and gentle prodding to get the guy to calm down. Tony first tried to convince her to leave, but eventually realized she was having more luck than him and even went so far as apologizing to the Hulk when Darcy told him to do so. It was probably some kind of record, one that she would have to speak with Pepper about in the future, because she didn't even have to ask him twice.

Fifteen minutes later, Bruce Banner was in another room changing into a clean and unshredded set of clothes. Darcy was sitting on a lab table, swinging her legs back and forth and sipping from the iced tea that she had retrieved from out in the hallway with the rest of her and Jane's lunch.

Tony Stark was across from her, standing up with his arms folded against his chest and giving her an appraising once over. His eyes narrowed a bit when she met his gaze, and she continued to chug down her iced tea.

By the time she had reached the bottom, Bruce still wasn't back yet so she grabbed Jane's drink and started in on it too. After all that work she was suddenly very thirsty.

Almost immediately though she spit the drink back into the cup. "Oh gross." She looked from the abomination they dared call tea and back at Tony. "Do you have any sugar?"

Tony raised his eyebrows in confusion. "Excuse me?"

"Suuugggaaarr," she drew out shaking the cup at him to where the ice rattled around inside. "Those nunchucks forgot the 'sweet' in sweetened iced tea."

Tony narrowed his eyes. "You should be freaking out right now." Darcy sighed as he was ignoring her request. She really was thirsty and there was no way she could drink that stuff without at least five packets. Maybe eight if it was the cheap, artificial stuff.

Darcy snorted at the thought. "Cheap" was not probably not even a word in Tony Stark's vocabulary.

"I don't think you are taking this very seriously," he said, looking more serious than Darcy knew possible.

Darcy hopped off the table and took a moment to rebalance herself on her high heels. "No, I don't think you are taking this very seriously. I need my sugar." Realizing she wasn't going to be getting any from him, she grabbed her stuff and started walking towards the lab doors. She always made sure the sugar container by Jane's coffee pot was well-stocked.

"You've run into the Hulk before, haven't you?" Tony asked, and the accusatory tone in his voice made Darcy pause and turn around.

Ignoring his question she said, "Look, I don't know what happened, but I'm pretty sure it was your fault." Tony's sudden pursed lips at her accusation only confirmed her suspicions. She looked over her shoulder, thinking that it would be better if she just left and didn't insult the man whose was essentially her boss. But she owed the Hulk, and Bruce for that matter, her life. It was the least she could do since the Hulk was like her big, green, guardian angel. "Just... just apologize, okay? Whatever it was, apologize and don't do it again. Neither one deserves being poked and prodded because of your selfish interests."

The billionaire scientist was silent as she walked expected though, she heard a door open and close a second after her exit, followed by a slow murmur of voices. She could just make out the words "I apologize" and "idiot," causing her to have a smile on her face all the way back to Jane's lab.

I love Darcy and Bruce together. For some reason now after having read Darcy/Bruce fanfictions I can't picture them with anyone else. They've practically become a canon couple in my eyes even though they've had zero interactions in canon so far. (This definitely needs to change although I'm not holding my breath).

Apologies for any spelling/grammar errors. I went through this quickly but I basically wrote this all on a tiny phone screen in a sketchy Gmail message to myself. Hey, you do what you gotta do when inspiration strikes!

I think this is going to be a three-parter. Maybe. Something like that. It was going to just be a one-shot but then the beginning was a little longer than anticipated. Let me know if you think it's worth continuing!